Gifts
by Awesome Laugh Trio
Summary: The day after his brother's birthday, Alfred recalls to Matthew the story of his bomber jacket, and reminds him where exactly Matthew got those little goggles of his. Oneshot. Brotherly US/Canada  but not the incest kind .


**A/N: This is a short oneshot because I am sick and should be sleeping.**

**But, anyways, today is Canada Day! And three days from now is the Fourth of July! Because of that, I wrote this fic for the birthday boys.**

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><p>Alfred has, throughout his lifetime, had crushes on several of the significant women in his country's life. Marilyn Monroe, for instance, was a big one, and her death had definitely startled him. Molly Pitcher was another example from when he was a teenager. However, one of his favorite women that had been in his life was Amelia Earheart. So, when the second of July rolled around, and there was a meeting on that day, he couldn't help but seem a little...out of it. Sure, he was still eating his absurd pile of hamburgers, but he wasn't shoving them in with the same gusto as he normally did. This odd notion began to worry Matthew slightly.<p>

Matthew, on the other hand, was simply a little out of it because yesterday had been Canada Day. And although that was great, he loved Canada Day, sometimes he just wished he wasn't always celebrating it alone.

Upon looking around, he realized that the others were in a bit of a predicament as well. Arthur had always taken the week off if a meeting happened to occur in the first week of July, claiming to be "sick" (Matthew had figured by now that it was really just heartsickness from missing his old colonies). Francis was worried and rambling in French over something (Matthew could, in fact, listen in, but he chose not to in fear of needing bleach to cleanse his mind afterward). And Yao was trying to lead the meeting but eventually gave up, muttering something about the 'silly westerners'.

"Hey, uh, Al?" Matthew asked quietly, grabbing the sleeve of his brother's bomber jacket that he always wore. It was old and worn due to overuse; he wondered why he didn't buy a new one already given the fact that he always tried to keep up on the latest trends that seemed to change weekly.

Alfred snapped around, mouth open and an expression that informed Matthew that he was about to be yelled at. Upon seeing that it was Matthew, Alfred's face softened. "Oh, sorry Mattie. Didn't know it was you."

"I figured," Matthew muttered, looking down.

"You know how I get about people touching my jacket," Alfred shrugged. "You coming with? I'm headed out to a Mickey D's."

"I guess," Matthew replied nonchalantly.

They walked, in an odd silence, down to the Golden Arches on the corner. After Alfred had ordered his burgers, and Matthew had ordered his sundae, they sat down at a back table together.

"What's bothering you today, Alfred?" Matthew asked, looking up at his brother. Alfred met the gaze, and put down his hamburger (a sight that many nations wouldn't believe happened unless they saw it).

"It's the second of July," he sighed.

"And? You just bummed because you forgot my birthday, again?" Matthew questioned, the words coming out in a much more snarky tone than he had anticipated them being in.

Alfred choked a little, his eyes widening. "Crap, that was yesterday, wasn't it?" Matthew nodded, and Alfred began muttering, clearly kicking himself a little for forgetting. "I'm sorry, Mattie, you know that-"

"Yeah, Alfred, I know you're a busy guy and have lots of things to do. Easy to forget about a day dedicated to someone practically invisible," Matthew interrupted, trying to force words into Alfred's mouth that he knew he wouldn't really say but was in too sour of a mood to really care. He tried to not let himself get like this, but sometimes it just didn't matter how much he tried.

"No. Just...no," Alfred snapped. "You really don't remember, do you Matthew?"

Matthew involuntarily shivered a little at the use of his real name, something that Alfred only used when he was either scarily somber or equally scarily pissed off. He couldn't tell which one it was this time, which only heightened the situation. "No, I don't..."

"It's the second of July. Anniversary of the last day I ever saw Amelia," he muttered, playing with the worn fuzz around the collar of his jacket. Matthew's eyes softened, and he sighed. Getting too attached to humans was something that the nations tried not to do, simply because of life spans, but his brother always seemed to fail at it. He remembered just how devastated the boy had been when her plane went missing- it was almost as bad as seeing Francis on May 30th.

"Oh," Matthew murmured.

"You know, she was actually the reason that I ever bought this coat," Alfred replied with a light smile. "She had one just like it, so it reminded me of her. I got it the day before she left, and went up to her, smiled, and told her that we matched. She smiled back..." Alfred began recounting the last day he saw her, and noting the nostalgia in his eyes Matthew sighed a little. That was another July 1st that Alfred had missed entirely, not even bothering with his usual week late fly-by apology.

Alfred must have actually read the atmosphere for once (which generally only happened around Matthew, given that in order to see him half the time you had to read the atmosphere) and stopped talking. He turned his attention towards Matthew. "You remember your goggles?"

"Well, yeah...I wear them every day. They're part of my uniform," Matthew nodded, nose scrunched slightly as he wondered why his brother would ask such an odd question. Of course he remembered his goggles, he wasn't like Alfred who would often set his glasses on top of his head and completely forget about them, later tearing his house apart in an attempt to find them.

Seeing the expression, Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Do you remember how you got them, Mattie?"

"I think so," Matthew nodded, completely unsure of the story he was trying to bring up.

Alfred took that as a 'no-of-course-I-don't-not-at-all-why-don't-you-completely-recount-the-story-to-me' sort of nod, and began talking again. "They were an Independence Gift from me, to remind you that I'll always be here. Even if your brother is the hero and is there for everyone when they need me...even that Commie bastard, if he could get off his high horse and ask for help."

Matthew rolled his eyes. Just when he thought his brother was going to say something compassionate (which he started to), he had to turn it to something like that. "Maybe Ivan just doesn't need your help, Alfred."

Alfred laughed loudly, "Yeah, right! Everyone needs my help!"

Matthew sighed, an eyebrow raised in amusement. This was more like it. "Whatever you say, Al."

"Of course what I say is always right! I'm the hero, after all," he nodded proudly. Matthew smirked. Yeah, this was more like it.


End file.
